1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable communication devices including portable telephones, etc., and more particularly to portable communication devices having a positioning function such as GPS (Global Positioning System), etc., for use in Car Navigation System.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable telephones are convenient when its user has a rendezvous with others. In the case where the user gets lost on the way to a rendezvous point, the user places a call or sends a message to a party whom the user is scheduled to meet, to notify the party of the present location of the user and ask the party how the user can get to the rendezvous point. This enables the user to reach the rendezvous point without getting lost, with the result that the user can meet the party.
However, with conventional portable telephones, when the user gets lost, the user may have no idea of his present location, so that the user cannot notify the party whom the user is scheduled to meet of the accurate present location of the user. This entails the problem that the party cannot tell the user precisely the way to the rendezvous point.
Portable telephones, in recent years, equipped with an image pickup device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera are in wide use. When the user having a portable telephone of this type gets lost, the user may photograph his surrounding landscape and buildings, sending image data obtained by the photography to the party whom he is scheduled to meet in order to notify the party of his present location.
However, with the portable telephone of this type, in the case where the party knows his way about the vicinity in which the user gets lost, the party can identify the present location of the user by looking at a landscape image or buildings which image data sent by the user shows. On the other hand, in the case where the party does not know his way about the vicinity in which the user gets lost, the party does not identify the present location of the user by looking at a landscape image or buildings which image data sent by the user shows, presenting the problem that the party cannot tell the user precisely the way to the rendezvous point. Further, in the case where the user gets lost in the vicinity having a number of similar landscapes, even if the party knows his way about the vicinity, there arises the problem that the party may mistake the present location of the user and, as a result, inform the user of an erroneous rout to the rendezvous point.